“RelAzioni” is a Solidarity Project funded by the European Solidarity Corps Programme, designed and implemented by young people from the Bologna area with the support of YouNet APS.

The project also benefited from the support of the Gian Franco Minguzzi Institution and AMA Hikikomori APS.

The main objective of the project is to increase awareness within the local community about the phenomenon of hikikomori, thereby contributing to its prevention.

To achieve this overall goal, the project pursues the following specific objectives:

• To increase the level of knowledge and information among the citizens of Bologna about social withdrawal and the hikikomori phenomenon;

• To inform adolescents about the mechanisms that may lead a young person to voluntarily withdraw from social life;

• To raise awareness among the families of the young people involved and among teachers who interact with them on a daily basis;

• To connect hikikomori individuals and/or their families with organisations working on social and labour reintegration of people at risk of social marginalisation.

The implementation phase of the project involved around one hundred students from three classes of Liceo Sabin and four classes of I.I.S. Giordano Bruno, two upper secondary schools in the metropolitan area of Bologna.

In the first phase, students, reference teachers, school principals, Parent Committees, and psychological staff from the School Counselling Service took part in a series of online awareness-raising meetings.

Students from Liceo Sabin and I.I.S. Giordano Bruno actively participated in a series of workshops delivered in a blended format, both online and in person.

Working in small groups, the students produced a press review, searching the web for articles and general content related to social withdrawal. They analysed the collected materials in depth and created a series of PowerPoint presentations, organising information hierarchically: from accurate definitions of the phenomenon to fake news or partially unreliable information.

This activity laid the groundwork for a process of critical analysis and deconstruction of misinformation, carried out in person with psychologist and psychotherapist Katia Bianchi, who, together with the other professionals involved, addressed the doubts and questions raised by the adolescents. As highlighted during the workshops, these uncertainties are often fuelled by the widespread misinformation found online.

The project concluded with a final dissemination and feedback event, attended by the students involved and representatives of AMA Hikikomori APS, held at the A. Montanari Social Centre in Bologna. During the event, the project results were presented, followed by a World Café activity in which participants worked in groups to reflect on key aspects of social withdrawal, such as the relationship between hikikomori and the internet, and the role of social pressure. The World Café was followed by a plenary feedback session.

Throughout the project, all students were also involved in the production of awareness-raising materials on social withdrawal, including brochures and a podcast written, recorded, and produced by the students themselves with the support of the project promoters. These outputs were presented during a school assembly.

Finally, the experiences, information, and methodologies used during the project were collected in a handbook, later translated into English, to support the dissemination of the acquired knowledge and the future replicability of the project’s actions, in whole or in part, in other contexts.

To download the handbook:
– English version;
– Italian version;